Is the SOPA Opera Over?

In case you missed it -- and I actually did -- hundreds of Websites were blacked out yesterday in protest of some proposed US legislation. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has a self-explanatory intent, but aspects of it have many people crying, "Censorship!"

I've had a hard time writing about yesterday's protest without getting entrenched in a debate over the First Amendment, so I'm just going to avoid that topic. But the uproar is so interesting because there could be a lot of business at stake.

The best SOPA synopsis I've seen so far is in the Wall Street Journal. The bill's biggest supporters are movie and music companies, and the loudest protestors are Web companies. But I'd rather look at the implications for the electronics industry.

Prunty's observation that the semiconductor industry "likes to think it doesn't have to worry" about DRM, because people say "those things will work themselves out" struck a chord with me. In our world -- the digital ecosystem -- content is king. A lot of content relies on hardware from cradle to grave. The sounds and visuals of most movies and music don't happen without a whole lot of support from technology, from the cameras used to film movies to the LEDs and switches under the on/off button of your PC, smartphone, or tablet.

Do the artists still own the creative rights to this stuff? Of course they do. But much of this content is developed with the assistance of processors, DRAM, disk drives, displays, crystal clear digital sound, and lots and lots of battery life. Hardware companies have skin in the SOPA game.

But making sure copyrights are enforced remains a challenge, as the SOPA opera this week demonstrated. If content becomes increasingly restricted, either voluntarily or by law, licensing costs are going to skyrocket. Legal downloads, in turn, will also become more expensive. Consumers are going to look for more free content (probably pirated) or go back to CDs, DVDs, and cheaper means of entertainment. The digital ecosystem as we know it may suffer. What's the point of owning an iPad if you can't surf and download from the Web? How much are you willing to pay for a song, book, movie, or video? I know there's a price point I won't tolerate, but I haven't reached it yet.

Hardware companies have been battling copyright infringement longer than many Internet companies have existed. I'm not sure these efforts will be any help to SOPA, but it's disingenuous to think only Internet/content companies have a stake in the legislation. So I'd like to hear from you. Does the bill go too far? Or do we need strict measures to preserve the digital ecosystem? Bonus question: Does anyone else find the idea of Wikipedia censoring its own site ironic?

hmmm, If we want to predict the future about the SOPA law, we can see what is going on with the patent war. The music companies they don't try to understand that, in reality, they don't loose any money because the people that they can afford to pay for music, they will do it.

With laws like SOPA, you just throw out some people and make it more expensive for the others.

Barbara, I would like to know whether this new SOPA affect the contents and articles published in EBN and similar online communities. In most of the board messages, articles and blogs, contributors are providing external links and it's also to be having copy rights as per the SOPA, am I right. Are you foreseen any change in our way of presenting the articles?

Does anyone else find the idea of Wikipedia censoring its own site ironic?

@Barbara, I dont think the idea of wikipedia censoring its own site ironic. Infact I would say wikipedia was successful in this campaign because half-a-dozen of the 40 original co-sponsors of what is known as the PIPA bill withdrew their support Wednesday amid a one-day protest blackout by Wikipedia and other Web giants.

@Tirlapur, I agree with you, in fact the websites blacking out their content has caused the Senators to re-evaluate the purpose. The current bill that is proposed is basically dead, and it's back to the drawing board.

I understand that the movie and music industry are fighting because they are losing money, but the way the law was written gives many loopholes that could cause censorship. The main purpose of these bills was to block overseas sites that are allowing pirated content.

I don't think SOPA would have an impact on publications such as EBN. SOPA would make it easier for authorities to shut down Websites that sell pirated goods. Among other things, it could suspend links; stop credit card payments and yank their domain name/address. Although EBN articles are copyrighted, we don't sell them to the public. If anyhing, plaigerism would be the issue for most online pubs. The other aspect is the advertising on Internet sites. We know our sponsors are authorized distributors and suppliers of electronics, but if an advertiser is selling bogus goods on an Internet site, SOPA could be applied.

@tira: True. I guess I was coming at that from a different direction. One of the main complaints about Wikipedia is the source of its information--just about anyone can post source material there. Therefore, there is the danger of inaccurate information being posted. Wikipedia doesn't sell its information, so SOPA would probably not apply. But I do believe there have been suits against Wikipedia for posting inaccurate information about people. While this is not piracy, the information could be consideed non-authentic by not coming from the original source. So I see Wikipedia's protest as censorship of stuff that might not be right to begin with.

Maybe irony was the wrong word...and as you point out, the protest did change some minds.

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